It seems the PlayStation Network isn't the only console gaming service that is currently dealing with hackers.  Though it seems on a much smaller scale, Microsoft is warning users currently playing Modern Warfare 2 that they may receive "title specific messages that are phishing attempts."  

We've all made mistakes and most of the time, we feel better about owning up to them.  Valve recently had a little slip up when their anti-cheat software automagically banned 12,000 Modern Warfare 2 players from the PC version of the game.  Turns out though, they weren't cheating at all.

You already know that former Infinity Ward heads have gone on to form Respawn Entertainment, partnering with Electronic Arts, the result of a much publicized legal extravaganza.  Since that time though there's been a steady stream of departures from Infinity Ward, some of gone on to other companies in the industry, but a lot of followed Jason West and Vince Zampella to Respawn.

In a follow up to a story we posted yesterday, Activision has confirmed that they have let studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella go from Call of Duty development house Infinity Ward.  In the investor press release Activision also made a surprise announcement, a new Call of Duty game would be coming in 2011.  Not surprised?  What if I told you it wasn't a first person shooter.

Infinity Ward, developers of the well received and best selling Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, might be in a bit of turmoil with their publisher Activision.  According to reports Activision is trying to get rid of studio founders due to "breaches of contract" and "insubordination."

Despite the success of Nazi Zombie's in Call of Duty: World at War, we won't be seeing the likes of the undead shamble across the modern battlefield.  While many had hoped to see a similar style mode in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, it's been confirmed by community manager Robert Bowling that we won't be getting anything of the sort.

"If you ever get some MW2 going when I'm on hit me up. I just got it the other day."

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 sold like hotcakes, to be sure.  But that doesn't mean the game was perfect.  Though the Special Ops co-op mode is great, the real question is: why no campaign co-op?  We've said it many times before.  Apparently, we aren't the only ones that feel this way.  The Escapist has a Modern Warfare 2 review by the Micro-Machines Man-mouthed Zero Punctuation.  It's pretty hilarious, if NSFW, and one of the main points is the lack of co-op in the campaign.  For fans of Modern Warfare 2 who don't take the game so seriously, it's defintely worth checking out!
 

If Santa Claus didn't bring you Modern Warfare 2 for Christmas, you might want to slide on over to Amazon.com where the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 version of the game is on sale for $39.99.  Naughty list be damned I say!

The November NPD numbers are out, and with them we get the stats of the biggest shopping weekend of the year in the United States.  It should come as no surprise that Modern Warfare 2 topped the charts with 4.2 million copies on the 360 and 1.87 million on the PlayStation 3.  Rounding out the top 5 were Assassin's Creed 2 on the 360, New Super Mario Bros Wii and Left 4 Dead 2 on the 360.

Keep the pedal to the floor on those party chat complaints in Modern Warfare 2!  According to Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling, they hear you loud and clear on the complaints from the community.  Whether hearing is the same as acting, well that's yet to be seen, but for those of you annoyed by the lack of party chat options in certain multiplayer play lists on the Xbox 360 - scream to the heavens:  

Before you get all riled up, Star Wars fans, take note: no, it will not. Of course not! But what better way to illustrate just how HUGE the Call of Duty franchise might be in the next couple of years? Both have sold ridiculously high unit counts, and if the below story is true: both are being stretched across every thinkable medium.

As you well know, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has dropped into the homes of more than 4.7 million people, shattering sales records and scoring completely in the green on metadata sites. But how does the co-op stack up? Read our review.

Ah, Modern Warfare 2. The epitome of all that is unfair. Take a perfectly good formula, gimp it, insult the consumers...and then sit back and laugh as you sell 4.7 million copies in one day. Watch Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare crash the PlayStation Network in 2007, and then act surprised when it happens again in 2009. Tout your campaign as being so important that it can't support the interference of multiplayer co-op players, then copy/paste the same missions to a side mode called Special Ops...and furthermore encourage players to skip an integral plot point via the most controversial playable scene this year.

When we found out that Halo 3: ODST's Firefight mode didn't support matchmaking, we were quite bummed to say the least.  If you haven't fired up Modern Warfare 2's  Spec-Ops cooperative mode yet on the 360 or PS3, we've got a bit of a downer for you - there's no matchmaking.